


Accidental Ghosting

by Leafintel



Category: Badboyhalo, Skeppy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, But not cutting so, Crying, DreamHalo, Highschool AU, M/M, Panic Attacks, Self-Harm, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 08:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20386384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leafintel/pseuds/Leafintel
Summary: Dream tries going on with his plans of staying away from Darryl - for Darryl's sake...That is until Darryl unexpectedly reaches out to him to ask about his odd behavior.





	Accidental Ghosting

**Author's Note:**

> **TRIGGER WARNING**   
**Self-Harm (Not Cutting), Self-Deprecation, Panic Attacks, Fever Mention, Insomnia Mention, Trippy Dreams and Crying - A lot of crying**
> 
> Oh, and this is the first time writing on AO3 so I'm a little new to the layout and it all gets transferred on Google Docs haha fun.

I hope you enjoy :>

•0•0•

Dream sat idly on an isolated table, watching Vincent, Zak and Darryl talk amongst themselves excitedly. His eyes fell on Darryl. As usual, the brownish-blonde male was eating his signature muffin whilst giggling at some joke that one of the other two had probably told. 

For a fraction of a second, the boy looked in his general direction. Dream immediately ripped his love-struck gaze away and caught himself staring leisurely at the vibrant, blue sky as to keep himself away from Darryl’s perplexed stare.

After a few seconds of awkward staring, Dream stole a quick glance and saw him whispering to his other two companions. He let out an exasperated sigh of relief before setting his head down on the table dramatically and groaning quietly. Due to his lack of interaction with the trio, Dream found it hard to even look at them in the eye.

“...How pathetic,” he mumbled to himself faintly, muffled by the table that his head was settled on. As Dream was about to stand up and leave the lonesome table, he heard his name being called by the male he was admiring a few moments ago.

His cheeks flushed a vivid shade of red as he felt himself look up to catch himself staring at the iconic trio, a reassuring smile sent his way pleasantly by the three of them. Dream quickly averted his gaze with the unexpected mastery of an introvert trying to make eye contact, playing off his disregard of Darryl’s hopeful call as being unable to hear him. Darryl stood up suddenly, making his way over to Dream with an uneasy expression gracing his face accompanied with a determined stance.

Just as Darryl was about to get any closer to the closed-off male, the bell rang; saving him from the confrontation with him. Dream let out a breath of alleviation he wasn’t even aware he was holding as he quickly stood up and power-walked to class, completely oblivious to Darryl’s pained gaze as he walked away from the boy’s out-strectched hand.

Strolling up to the open door of the classroom, Dream wandered in - first student in, as usual.

All in an effort to avoid Darryl...

He took a seat in his assigned place, plopping his arm onto the desk and letting his head rest on his hand. He stared wistfully at the reddish, blue-ish hued sky as he felt himself fall into his spiralling thoughts. He was running away from his crush...Pitiful. He couldn’t even face Darryl anymore.

_It all started with a horrible, crushing realisation, made on any ordinary day._

_‘...Darryl. He-He doesn’t really enjoy my company, does he..?’_

_I watched in a contemplative gaze as the other boy talked to his two best friends energetically, as usual. Sure, I didn’t hang out with them on the regular, but yet - the daunting revelation that I was just the ‘expendable replacement’ was not any less painful. My heart ached as I sat next to the trio, my mind falling deeper and deeper into a state of hopelessness. _

_Without a word, I stood up from the table - walking away from the three, wondering whether they would notice my sudden disappearance from the group._

_ __ _

_As I’d expected, none of them noticed, or mentioned it..._

__

_Or cared…_

__

_...Of course nobody cared, they all think I’m annoying. **Darryl** thinks I’m annoying.  
How could anyone not think I was annoying? Just some waste of space, replaceable trash. I’m too boring for him, whenever we talk he always seems so un-’_

The sudden call of his name that Dream distantly heard from the from the front of the classroom coming from his teacher halted his spiralling thoughts. He replied with the usual ‘here’, trying to conceal the evident shakiness in his tone that fell on deaf ears by the entire class.

Dream rubbed his forehead in fatigue and felt the sweat that had formed due to his stress. He groaned in irritation to himself and ran a faintly shaking hand through his curly, brown locks. He planted his head on his desk and turned his head over to face the window, letting out a breath and scrunching his eyes shut, hoping his mind wouldn’t start plunging even deeper into his dark, messed up thoughts.

Maybe they’d become too dark for even Dream to cope with. Really, he was only hanging onto that fact that The Trio showed him any acknowledgement of his sad, lonely existence. With reluctance, he lifted his head from the wooden surface of his desk and looked blearily up at the whiteboard, filled with information his brain was having trouble comprehending properly, exhaustion from his overthinking starting to affect his concentration negatively. Feeling a wave weariness overtake him, Dream let himself fall unconscious - falling asleep in a fitful slumber.

_Dream looked around himself, the form of Darryl in front of him - his back turned towards him as he walked away from Dream. The lengthy steps coming from the male echoed loudly around the desolate, blank area. In his confusion, Dream frantically ran towards the male, reaching his hand out to get some contact with him. As his fingers grasped the silhouette of Darryl, he felt his fingers phase through, as if he were a ghost._

_“W-What-” He whispered to himself, looking at his own hand in bewilderment, before the entire area faded to pitch black. Dream blinked, and suddenly the area was lit up with a blinding white light - Dream rubbed his eyes at the unforeseen pitch change and squinted his eyes in an attempt to adjust them to the light. That is until he felt a shadow looming ominously over him, he attempted to see through his blurring vision but to no avail._

_“Dream.”_

_The brown-haired boy felt his heart hammering in his throat as he heard the recognisable voice of Darryl. His vision began to clear and saw that he was face to face with him._

_“D-Darryl, I’m so sorry. I never meant for-for any of this to happen!” Dream stuttered nervously, looking directly into Darryl’s eyes for the first time in weeks. Darryl gave him a blank stare, before smiling reassuringly._

_..._

_“I know.”_

_…_

_Suddenly, Dream couldn’t feel a solid grasp on the floor he was standing on moments before - he felt himself falling into oblivion as a small shiver ran through his spine. Yet somehow, Dream felt some weird sense of calm melancholy as he was thrown into who knows where, the sky coated black with stars dotted around, the wind whipped across his face as he weightlessly freefell. _

_Then suddenly-_

Dream fell head-first into his desk, his head started to pound and his eyes teared up in agony as he let out a whimper of pain. The entire class turned their heads to look at the male who looked back at the class with fearful, wide-unmoving eyes. The teacher fixed Dream with a sympathetic gaze, stepping away from her monitor and walking up to Dream.

“Do you want me to call home? You look sick,” The teacher asked Dream, giving him a concerned gaze as she headed toward him to get a closer look at the green-cladded boy. Dream nodded drowsily, feeling the sweat drenching his clothing as he stood up clumsily and walked outside into the cool corridor. He took a breath, cherishing the cold air that entered his lungs and rubbed his eyes as he stared up at the hallway lights. A glassy distant look haunted his eyes as he recalled the events that had just happened in his unconscious state.

The cogs in his mind began to spin as Dream tried to piece together his seemingly nonsensical dream. His migraine screamed in protest as he tried to make sense of what had just happened, causing the boy to groan in irritation.

The teacher finally came out into the hallway and informed Dream that his parents were outside waiting for him. Grateful for his teacher’s mercifulness, Dream thanked them earnestly before making his journey to the school gates. 

Dream collapsed onto his bed and slid himself under the covers, letting his eyes close as he reflected back to the past few weeks. 

“...I miss him,” He muttered to himself tiredly, turning himself onto his side and facing the wall. His eyes teared up as his mind raced in his heavily delirious state. After a few seconds of blankly staring at the wall, the tears brimming at the corners of his eyes became full blown loud, heaving sobs. Dream curled in on himself and cried, the salty tears soaking his pillow as he hugged it closer to himself - desperate for some form of physical contact.

Without any warning, the familiar ring of his phone on the bedside table indicated that someone was calling him. Giving his phone an uncertain look, he sat up - tears still on his face and gave the contact information a quick glance.

**Darryl Noveschosch**

_‘Oh sweet Jesus, I have no idea whether this is a blessing or curse but I thank whatever omnipotent entity caused this opportunity anyway’_

Wiping his tears away and inhaling deeply, he answered the call with bated breath - nervous as to why Darryl had decided to call him. A short silence was heard on the other side of the line before he heard the other boy begin to talk.

“D-Dream? Oh my goodness you picked up! It’s been - it’s been so long since we’ve talked,” Darryl exclaimed, ending his statement in a subtle sad tone. Dream felt his heart clench as Darryl spoke with a somewhat sorrowful inflection, able to sense the somber undertone within his words. Dream felt his words catch in his throat, finding himself unable to talk to the boy.

“I’m so sorry Dream, d-did I do something wrong? It, it just seems that you’ve well, you’ve been ignoring me and I just- I can’t-”

“NO! No no no no no, you haven’t done anything wrong!” Dream suddenly exclaimed, his vocal chords finally deciding to listen to him. Darryl stayed silent for a few agonizing seconds before replying in a quiet voice.

“...Really?”

“Yes! Of course I’m sure,” Dream answered back eagerly, desperate to lift Darryl’s spirits. “It’s just that, I- I just thought you didn’t enjoy my company. Whenever we hung out, you just always seemed that you’d rather hang out with the other two. Yeah - I know, stupid reason. I’m just going to go,” He finished his sentence abruptly and quickly ended the call, blocking out Darryl’s protests for him not to.

After a few seconds of tense silence, he sighed before flopping back down onto his bed - a shiver ran through his body and his head was a muddle of emotions. He shut his eyes and attempted to forget what had just happened, inwardly cringing that he had just essentially vented to Darryl of all people. 

Darryl stared at his phone for a few painful seconds before putting it down onto the table. Vincent and Zak studied the boy carefully, giving each other nervous glances. There was a hint of apprehension in his thousand-yard stare as Darryl began to visibly shake, until the bell rang, indicating the end of Lunch.

Anxiously, Darryl sat in class - clearly distressed by something weighing heavy on his mind. Constant fidgeting with the hood of his black and red sweater alongside glassy, glazed eyes framed by fogged up glasses. Without warning, he shot his hand up for permission to go to the toilet - the teacher gave him an annoyed look, that is until he whipped out a hallway pass. The teacher nodded as Darryl sprinted out of the classroom at a surprising speed.

Running into the empty bathroom, he quickly locked the stall and clasped a hand over his mouth roughly to silence the sobs, the corners of his eyes already brimming with tears as he attempted to quiet the uneven breathing. His heart banged in his chest as his breath came out in short intakes of air. Darryl felt sweat running down his back as he attempted to reign in the panic that began to run through his body. Tears began to pour from his eyes as he sobbed in the toilet stall, unable to control himself.

Guilt flooded his system as his mind recalled back to his phone call with Dream, his words rang loudly through his head.  
“Good job Darryl, you just cut off your crush - stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid muffin! He’s been suffering for all these weeks and you didn’t do anything. How did you not pick up on this, oh my goodness it’s all my fault-” He berated himself brokenly, hitting himself with shaking hands.

Seconds seemed to slow down to long, agonizing hours as Darryl continued to break down in the bathroom stall alone. The silence began to suffocate him as he became acutely aware of how pathetic he must’ve sounded.

Through his dizziness, he counted down from 10 on his fingers - trying to calm down the sudden wave of emotion that had slapped him.

“10, 9, 8, 7...6, 5, 4, 3, 2...1”

He took a deep breath, inhaling the air slowly before exhaling out his nose, his frantic breathing slowed back down and his shaking limbs lessened their jolting movements.

Shutting his eyes closed and wiping the sweat off his forehead, he unlocked the stall door and went to the sink. Taking a good long look at his appearance, he stared at his eyes in the reflection of the murky mirror: his unkempt hair and depleted eyes looked back at him, tear streaks still visible on his heated face and sweat still ran down his neck.

Turning on the taps, he took a handful of water and splashed it onto himself, attempting to wash away the dry tears still splattered on his face, before scrubbing his face with the sleeve of his hoodie to rid of any sign of liquid on him. Staring back into the reflective glass, he forced a tight lipped smile onto his face.

...

It didn’t feel right.

...

Groaning in annoyance, Darryl started his time-consuming trudge back to the classroom, hoping his teacher wouldn’t lecture him on his extended amount of time he had spent in the bathroom. He opened the door and felt everyone’s eyes on him - inwardly shuddering nervously as he ambled over to his seat, trying to keep up his facade.

As he’d expected, the teacher looked at him in bewilderment, Darryl sent her a smile - attempting to retain his usual charming grin. Shrugging, the teacher carried on with the lesson as Darryl huffed a soft sigh of relief, dropping his arms over his desk gently and planting his face on the desk. He hoped that Zak and Vincent wouldn’t pick up on his strange behaviour that he was displaying ever since his little breakdown that had just occurred in the bathroom.

Reluctantly sitting up, he stared blankly at the interactive whiteboard, his mind not fully comprehending the information that the teacher displayed on the screen. Absently, he fixed his empty gaze on the clock, the seconds lasting abnormally long as Darryl longed for the end of the lesson to come - he felt boredom begin to crawl it’s way into his system as he suppressed a tired yawn, exhaustion settling in after his subsequent panic attack.

...

He woke up to the sudden ring of the bell, completely oblivious to the fact that he had fallen asleep in the first place. Lifting his head from his desk blearily, he looked up to see the entire class hastily stuffing their pencil cases and water bottles into their backpacks and satchels. Likewise, Darryl sluggishly placed his items into his backpack, rushing out into the hallway - coming to the aggravating realisation he had one more lesson to suffer through.

Lucky for Darryl, he found himself able to stay awake and focus on the lesson after his impromptu nap in the middle of his previous class - grateful he was actually able to retain information after he had actually spent longer than 30 minutes unconscious. The lesson went by quickly and as soon as the bell rang, Darryl rushed out of the stuffy classroom near the entrance gate of the school - pulling out his phone from his pocket and fumbling for Dream’s contact.

**You wouldn’t mind if I came over, right?**

Restlessly, he waited for Dream’s reply - biting his fingernails as the tense few seconds floated past in slow motion. After a few moments of deathly silence, Dream responded with a casual:

**Ok**

Darryl released the anxious breath he wasn’t even aware he was holding and placed his phone back into his pocket. Then he saw Zak and Vincent running up to him. He swallowed down a quick gulp, and practiced his smile - feeling it crack slightly through the crushing guilt he was suddenly hit with when he recalled the lonely, green-cladded boy.

“Hey Darryl! Did something happen at Lunch? You seemed a little off after that phone call,” Zak asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the boy. Vincent nodded, implying their shared sentiment for the boy in front of them - who ,unbeknownst to them, was having an internal war with himself.

‘Do, do I tell them about Dream. Well, I mean, he didn’t want them knowing about it. Heck! He didn’t even want ME to know about it. It would be rude if I told them without his permission. But - But this has been going on for too long. This involves them too, they need to know… No, I-I should talk to Dream first.’

Darryl came to the sensible conclusion that it would be a good idea to wait before he informed his 2 best friends about the whole Dream predicament. Sending them a convincing smile, he reassured them that he was fine - not even bothering to mention his nervous collapse that took place in the bathroom stall, that wasn’t important.

Vincent looked at him in disbelief, the obvious suspicion painted clearly on his face - disregarding the fact that his bandanna covered his eyes - as he looked at the tight-lipped boy in front of him. Zak didn’t really believe him either, able to read the boy like a book, despite how impressively convincing his acting was.

Sending a quick glance to each other, they both mentally agreed to leave the subject alone - coming to the reasonable answer that Darryl didn’t want to talk about it at the moment. Though both were still curious on whatever the brownish-blonde boy was hiding behind his cracking guise.

“Uhm okay then,” Vincent said, shrugging nonchalantly and covering all inflections of doubt in his tone.  
“Ehehe, yeaahhh - well I’m sorry you two, I uhmm - I have plans that are really urgent. See you two muffins later!” Darryl suddenly piped up, walking away from the pair - not before waving them a chipper goodbye, of course.

The two in question stared at him in confused bewilderment, before turning towards each other and simultaneously coming to the same result.

_Somethings wrong._

Dream sucked in a large breath, laying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling whilst sweat still clung onto the stray strands of dishevelled hair. He took another long look at his phone and stared at the text he had received from Darryl.

You wouldn’t mind if I came over, right?

In all honesty, Dream would rather not have Darryl coming over - at least not now. After all, Dream really didn’t know how to keep up an actually pleasant conversation with anybody - and this was his crush, coming over after Dream had almost spilled his guts on why he had been ignoring the poor boy.

‘No-no, this has also been hurting _Darryl_, I-I never intended on hurting him. God, I can’t even help people correctly-’

Dream shook his head, cancelling the thought immediately.

‘No! Don’t be stupid Dream. This is going to be your big chance! Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to actually look at Darryl in the eye.

…

Maybe you’ll even be able to _confess_ to him’

Dream felt his face flush red and buried his face in his hands, muffling an embarrassed groan at the (what he considered) suggestive thought.  
“Like I would do that, I’ve been ignoring him for weeks - there’s no way he’s in love with me,” he murmured bitterly to himself - scoffing sourly at the thought.

And then the doorbell rang.

Dream’s breath hitched in his chest as he heard the doorbell. He sat up and creased down his turtleneck jumper, before anxiously making his way down the stairs two steps at a time.

Grabbing the keys off the hook and pulling down the door handle, he was greeted with the sight of Darryl, up close. His eyes scanned the form of the shorter boy attentively: frazzled hair, sweating and heavy panting.

‘D-Did he _run_ here?’ 

Darryl sent Dream a charming smile, wiping his brow with the back of his hand and taking a step inside his house hesitantly.  
“I-it’s been so long since we’ve spoken face to face,” Darryl whispered, looking down - before glancing up, catching Dream’s eyes in a captivating gaze.

“Can we go to your room?” He suddenly asked, pointing at the stairs that led to the second floor of Dream’s house. The brown-haired boy nodded, walking up the stairs with the other following closely behind him. Tension contaminated the air, both males extremely nervous as they trailed up the stairs agonisingly slowly.

As soon as they found themselves standing on the fuzzy green carpet of Dream’s bedroom, he sighed - feeling some strange sense of comfort in the interior of his room. Darryl sat on the bed, patting the area next to him - urging Dream to take a seat next to him.

Swallowing his nerves, Dream wandered over and took a seat next to the black-cladded boy, feeling himself shiver when he felt the others hoodie brush against his sweater sleeve.

Darryl turned to him, concern on his face as he asked, “Dream, be honest with me. A-are you okay?”  
His heart skipped a beat as the other boy spoke, staring at him with desperate worry unmistakably in his deep, emerald eyes.

“I- uh, yeah-“

Even though he was admittedly dense, Darryl could easily tell that Dream was lying to him. Shaking his head, he took a hold of Dream’s hand and squeezed it encouragingly. Dream stared at Darryl in carefully concealed shock, before he looked away - furiously scrubbing his face with his sweater sleeve.

“Dream, you okay?” The brownish-blonde haired boy inquired, his brow furrowed as he watched the other turn away from him and stifle his tears with his sleeve.  
“N-no,” Dream replied, broken sobs racked his body as he wiped his eyes with his sweater - still clutching onto Darryl’s hand tightly as he felt his composure begin to crack.  
Taken aback by the sudden display of emotion, Darryl gazed at the other in silent shock - his body frozen as his mind screamed at him to do something, anything.

“I-I’m so sorry Darryl, this was never meant to happen, I just - well, you always seemed so disinterested with my presence. You enjoyed the other two and I just felt like some unwanted extra to you,” Dream muttered, eventually turning around to meet Darryl’s stunned gaze. Finally regaining control of his body, Darryl vehemently shook his head in protest to the other’s statement.

“No, no Dream I- I _do_ enjoy your company. It’s just whenever I was around you I got all flustered, my heart would beat f-“ Darryl clasped a hand over his hand roughly as he realised what he was saying, Dream stared at the boy across from him in shock - before slowly turning a vivid shade of red, gazing at Darryl with a starstruck glint. 

“Wait, d-do you have a crush on me?” Dream inquired, starring quizzically down at the shorter male. Darryl’s mouth went dry and his face burned even redder - nodding shamefully.

“Yes I- I do, but I’ve been so ignorant as of recently I’m sorry, let’s just pretend this never h-“ his sentence was cut off as he felt a pair of lips connect with his, Dream letting go of Darryl’s hand to hold onto his arms and leaned down to give him a long, enticing kiss.

Darryl gasped into the kiss for a second before leaning into it, shutting his eyes before separating from the other’s mouth - falling forward into him and snuggling up against his green turtleneck sweater.

“W-wow, Dream that was...that was wonderful,” Darryl mumbled in a low voice, muffled by the sweater, simultaneously wrapping himself around the brown-haired male tightly.

“Oh I- did I just do that..?” Dream stammered, somewhat in awe with his daring make out, smiling giddily to himself as he gently ran his fingers through his newly realised lover's hair.

Slamming his door shut, Darryl slid down the hard, wooden material - seating himself uncomfortably on the fluffy carpet as he leaned on the hardwood door. Now don’t get him wrong, he was ecstatic that he had just snuggled up and made out with his crush - but he still felt guilty. It was stupid, Dream didn’t hold any grudge against him. Heck! They were _dating_ now…

Yet he still felt _horrible_.

He should have noticed the signs, he’d failed to notice the depressive state of his crush.  
_‘Oh my goodness, what’s wrong with me?’_ He wondered bitterly to himself, hugging his knees to his chest and burying his head within his tangle of limbs.

On impulse, he slammed his head against the door forcefully to stop his brain from being any more self-deprecating. He stood up - rubbing his now throbbing head in a feeble attempt to relieve the pain and mildly regretting the pain he had inflicted on himself.

Staggering to his bed, he collapsed onto his mattress immediately - not bothering to slip under the covers before he blacked out and succumb to blissful unconsciousness - for once.

Dream walked by Darryl’s house on his way to school, before back-tracking and strolling casually backwards - standing in front of the door. Stifling a gulp, he walked up towards the front door, knocking loudly and waiting for the door to open.

After a few seconds, Darryl opened the door and looked up at Dream, in his black and red hoodie and muffin stuffed into his mouth.  
“Oh hi Dream! I- I was actually about to set off,” giving the green-cladded boy a charismatic forced smile.

Dream returned the smile before replying, “Alright, well - let’s set off.”

They walked down the pathway, hand in hand and a gentle smile gracing both of their faces. Out of nowhere, Darryl wrapped both his arms around tightly and leaned close to him. Dream shot him a quizzical look, raising an eyebrow at his boyfriend’s sudden movement.

“I’m sorry,” He murmured, avoiding Dream’s bewildered gaze by staring at the gravel beneath their feet.  
“For what? You haven’t done anything,” Dream whispered back, giving Darryl a reassuring grin as he buried himself deeper into the soft, green sweater of the other.

Dream heard a quiet sniffle from the other boy, immediately Dream reached a hand to gently drag his fingertips comfortingly through the whimpering boy’s hair.

Taking a deep breath in, Darryl stood up straight - blinking away the tears that were forming in the corners of his eyes and turning to Dream with a serious glint in his eye.  
“I- I was thinking about the past few weeks recently. I don’t know, I-I felt so terrible that I just disregarded your emotions like that. I should have picked up on the signs, I-I’m so s-“ 

Cutting off Darryl, Dream clutched the other boy by the shoulders - breaking Darryl out of his hectic ramble. His eyes widened as he swallowed down the unspoken words, giving Dream an apologetic glance.

“No, no- Darryl please - this isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself like that. There was nothing you could have possibly done - You haven’t done anything wrong,” Dream uttered, a gentle comforting tone in his voice. He brushed the beginnings of tears away from the other’s eyes and gave him a sweet, seductive kiss.

Darryl gasped into the kiss before leaning forward for more contact, closing his eyes as he felt Dream clutch the sides of his hoodie and pull him closer to him.

An awkward cough behind them brought the two out of their emotional make out, a heated blush over both their faces as they put some distance between each other.

Zak and Vincent stared at the two love birds in surprise, Dream cleared his throat as he let out an awkward laugh - fidgeting with his hands to occupy them with something.

“So I suppose we’ve got some explaining to do.”

~~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, my beta readers! Who I have no idea if they have an Ao3 account!


End file.
